Construction of ceilings or floors.



No. 742,849. PATENTED NOV. 3, 1 903.

' H. EGGERT.

CONSTRUCTION OF GEILINGS 0R FLOORS.

' APPLICATION FILED DEC. 10, 1901.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

ll/ifnesses:

, QMMM: m

PATENTED NOV. 3, 1903.

H. LGrGrI-ZRT. CONSTRUCTION OF OEILINGS OR FLOORS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 10, 1901.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

HO MODEL.

Patented November 3, 1903.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I-IERMANN EGGERT, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

CONSTRUCTION OF CEILINGS OR FLOORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 742,849, dated November 3, 1903.

Application filed December 10 1901. Serial No. 85,893. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERMANN Econnr, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at 16 Burggrafenstrasse, Berlin, Germany, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Ceilings or Floors, of

under masonry ground-plates or supporting-.

beams. The beams have also not proved good against fire, so that great care has to-be taken to protect them against the same. Furthermore, they cannot be covered with plaster without separate provision being made, and it is also very difficult to prevent their position being rendered visible in course of time by difierences in color. By the employment of higher beams either the ceiling must be made stronger than would otherwise be necessary, so that increased cost, loss of space, and the employment of cheaper and perhaps hygienically-inj urious filling material result, or the beams project from the ceiling, which causes increased difficulties with respect to protection from fire and architectural treatment. Moreover, iron girders have a very unfavorable action upon the transmission of sound in buildings, and this is still further increased if for the massive portions of ceilings concrete in large quantity is employed. In this case also a ceiling-surface is obtained to which plaster cannot be caused to adhere with safety, and the necessary small-building operations can only be proceeded with with difficulty. 'Now this invention has for its object to obviate all these disadvantages, and to enable myinvention to be fully understood I will describe it by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of a floor or ceiling made according to this invention and arranged between two supporting-walls. Fig. 2 is a partial plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a partial transverse vertical sectional view of the same. Fig. 4: is a view similar to Fig. 1, illustrating a slightly-modified Fig. 5 is a partial plan view of construction.

the same. Fig. 6 is a partial transverse vertical sectional view of the same. Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the invention applied to a floor or ceiling extending continuously over its supports. Fig. 8 is a similar View showing the structure supported at one end only. Fig. 9 is asimilar view showing. the construct-ion applied to a curve or arch. Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig.1, showing the invention applied to a construction in which the bricks are placed on end. Figs. 11 and 12 are views similar to Figs. 1 and 2, showing the invention applied to balcony construction supported by ironwork. Fig. 13 is a detail view of a portion of one of the tie bars or rods, showing one means for anchoring the ends of the same. Fig. 14 is a similar view showing a modification of the anchoring means. Fig. 15 is a perspective view of the form of brick which is preferably employed in carrying the invention into effect. Fig. 16 is a similar view of a modification of the same.

My improved ceiling comprisesabrickwork layer a, in which thin iron bars or rods 1) are embedded, and alayer c of cement. By reason of the intimate connection of these elements and of the regular arrangement of the iron rods a plate-like construction of high rigidity is obtained which finds its support in the whole length of the supporting-walls. By this means and also by the employment of light material for the brickwork layer and the limitation of the cement or concrete layer to the strength absolutely necessary the transmissibility to sound of the ceiling is Very greatly lessened. The masonry layer also provides an uninterrupted ceiling-surface, which forms the safest groundwork for every kind-of plaster as also for mosaic and plate decoration. This surface can also be decorated in the visible brickwork or similar style. It can be plane or curved and for the purpose of architectural treatment can be provided with ribs or bays and the like, (see Figs. 11,) all this being effected with very simple means.

From the statical point of view the ceiling is an iron-concrete construction. The third memberthe brickwork layer (z,-is in this respect only of secondary consideration. The iron tie-bars b are in themselves fireproof and are so embedded that they retain the predetermined position in the beam systemand are arranged so that their ends grip or hook into the concrete layer. Furthermore, by the penetration of the concrete into the joints of the brickwork concrete laminae d (see Figs. 5 and 6) are formed which take up the diagonal forces existing in the beam system, the said layer also imparting to the concrete layer 0, for the reason that it is rigidly connected with it, the necessary rigidity. The iron bars are fixed in a claw-like manner into the concrete and transmit the forces set up in them to the same in a mechanical manner by means of semicircular and generally flat-lying bends e, Fig. 13, anchor-plates, Fig. 14, or the like. By properly dimensioning the bends, &c., a particular pressure requirement of the concrete can be complied with. The anchorplates which are supported against notches m in the iron rods and are then keyed in position can be of any suitable number, so that by means of the same very considerable forces can be transmitted to the concrete. The upward bendsf act in the same way as the bends e of the bars I) in which the diagonal forces are set up, so that the bars should be correspondingly rounded. No account is taken of the adhesion between the iron bars and the concrete in the construction of the ceiling and floor.

In order to limit the quantity of iron required, the iron bars are so arranged that their total cross-sectional area varies from point to point to correspond to the varying forces set up in the system. To this end for each statical unit of the ceiling of one or more layers in breadth several coacting bars of differentlengths are employed in the well-known manner,bein g superposed in a joint, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, or in case several joints are available several rods of the same length are employed and placed separately in the joints, as shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, in whichcase they can be displaced relatively with one another, or a combination of these two arrangements is possible. In Fig. 2 I have shown groups of three tie rods or bars of three different lengths having their main por-' tions arranged one above the other. In Fig. 5 I have shown a similar arrangement by means of three rods of the same length arranged in three adjacent joints and having their main portions lying in substantially the same horizontal planes. By reason of these arrangements an even or homogeneous transmission of the forces in the ceiling takes place, this being allied to what is effected in framed buildings. The ceiling or floor can therefore be constructed in accordance with all systems of this kindfor example, as beams supported at two points, Figs. 1 and 4; as continuous girders, (shown in Fig. 7;) as cantalivers (shown in Fig. 8) for balconies and for stairways; as curved beams, Fig. 9, for arched roofs and the like. The walls can, as in the case of iron girders, only be loaded in the vertical direction.

leases As the construction of the ceiling permits of the proper wear of the materials employed and enables the forces existing over the whole structure to be carefully estimated, the ceiling can be safely constructed with the smallest expenditure. The cost of construction is th us less and the span with advantage greater than in the case of iron-beam ceilings. The

auxiliary costs which occur in the latter case are by my invention practically obviated. The construction of the floor and ceiling is simple and the examination of the same easy. As the upper ends of the iron bars project from the brickworklayer, it can be easily seen before the concrete layer is applied whether they have been correctly placed in position.

The manifold and easy adaptations of the ceiling are most noticeable in such difficult cases as when iron balcony-girders must be riveted together, as shown in Figs. 11 and 12, for its particular construction permits of iron bars being placed in the brickwork layer of diiferent thickness and strength, also at different heights and extending in different directions, and also at right angles or inclined to one another, whereby bearers a, strengthening-beams v, openings, and the like can be constructed and all irregularities overcome without any particular difficulty and increase in cost.

In the construction of the ceiling I prefer to employ the specially-shaped brick shown in Figs. 15 and 16 and which is formed on four sides with claw-like grooves or notches is. These bricks can lie flat, as shown at g, Figs. 11 and 12, or on their edges, as shown ICO in Figs. 1 and 4,0r on one end, as shown at h, Fig. 11, and are always placed with one side free to enable their notches or grooves to be connected with the brickwork layer, whereby they impart to the whole of the coiling a very secure inner connection, this arrangement on one side free being adopted even when the usual masonry bond cannot be utilized, as shown at i, Fig. 12, or when the bricks occur at the commencement of a bay, as shown at 1 in Fig. 11, or at a projecting arch, as shown at It in Fig. 11.

If the rigid requirements in respect of high construction or sound-deadening and the provision of a brickwork ceiling-surface are not demanded, the construction can be simplified by manufacturing the massive portion of the same either of brickwork alone, as shown in Fig. 10, or of concrete alone, the same form and arrangement of iron rods being retained. The first arrangement can be advantageously employed to replace door and window arches by a simple brickwork body without central masonry and which can be more easily manufactured than the former. The force which is set up in arch construc tion in this case is thereby obviated, and as pegs or dowels can be utilized as in ordinary masonry for securing joinery the covering planks or boards can be dispensed with, thus avoiding the weakening of the walls consequent upon the fitting of the said boards in position.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,

I declare that what I claim is 1. A composite floor or ceiling structure, provided with a plurality of metallic rods embedded therein and having their ends provided with laterally-projecting portions embedded'in the upper portions of said composite structure, substantially as described.

2. A composite floor or ceiling structure comprising a masonry course, a plurality of metallic rods embedded therein and having their ends above said masonry course provided with laterally-proj ectin g portions, substantially as described.

3. A composite floor or ceiling structure comprising a horizontally-disposed layer of masonry, aseries of metallic bars having their main central portions lying between vertical courses of said masonry, and having their end portions extending above the masonry and provided with laterally-projecting portions and a layer of cement above said masonry having said lateral-projecting portions embedded therein, substantially as described.

4. A composite floor or ceiling structure comprising a horizontally-disposed layer of masonry, a series of metallic bars embedded therein and having upwardly-extending end portions provided with laterally-projecting portions lying above said masonry, and at different distances from the supports for said floor or ceiling, and a layer of cement above said masonry having said laterally-projecting portions of said rods embedded therein, substantially as described.

5. In a composite floor or ceiling structure, the combination with a horizontally-disposed layer of brickwork, a plurality of metallic rods embedded therein and located between vertical courses of the same, bars being of different lengths, and having their ends proj ecting above the masonry and provided with laterally-projecting portions, and a layer of cement above said layer of brickwork and having the said laterally-projecting portions of said rods embedded therein, substantially as described.

6. In acomposite floor or ceiling structure, the combination with a horizontally-disposed layer of bricks having opposite parallel recessed faces, of a plurality of metallic bars inserted between vertical courses of said bricks and having their ends projecting above said bricks and provided with laterally-projecting portions, and a layer of cement above and between said bricks for holding the laterally-projecting portions of said rods and for interlocking said bricks, substantially as described.

HERMANN EGGERT. Witnesses:

WOLDEMAR HAUPT, HENRY HASPER. 

